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Dr Lee Awarded Champion in "Love Is All Around" Writing Competition

1/12/2020

8 Comments

 
Picture
Moment of awarding the Champion of the English Open Section
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All awardees of the English Open Section
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Dr Lee with Mr Jasper Tsang GBS JP, an Honorary Director of the competition
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Dr Lee and a Merit Prize recipient, Ms Janice Getzlaf
[11 Jan] By Dr H C Lee

This afternoon was memorable in many ways. I was unbelievably fortunate to be granted winner in the English Open Section of "Love Is All Around"
– The 2nd Chinese & English Essay-Writing Competition.

The writing task was an interesting one. We were asked to review/respond to a 6-min animation known as "The Last Knit", which is a popular video created by Laura Neuvonen. I wasn't sure if poetry would be a good idea for this writing contest but still decided to try regardless of the result. I submitted a 1300-word poem titled "Cocoon" in response to the video as I thought that the video was poetic in the first place. In my acceptance speech, I thanked the judges for recognizing my use of poetry and wished all people to have the wisdom not to live in an invisible cocoon.

The award ceremony was held in a hotel in Wanchai. I was happy to bump into a friend, Ms Janice Getzlaf, whom I knew from the Speech Festival. I also got chances to speak with my fellow awardees and guests in the ballroom. It was a great atmosphere in the occasion and I thought it was too good to be true.

​For those of you who are curious about my winning piece...well, you need to watch that video first to be able to make sense of my verse. While it may not be the best poem I've ever written, it's certainly the longest one. Hope it brings some inspiration to you all.

You may download the poem here:
cocoon.pdf
File Size: 1800 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

8 Comments
Aden Su
1/12/2020 09:34:20 pm

Congratulations, Dr Lee!!! You certainly outdid yourself in this competition. 1300 words for a poem? Wow! This is the longest poem I’ve ever read by far!

This was a very deep and moralistic poem, reminding people not to wrap themselves up in cocoons, don’t try to lie to yourself or pretend you’re something you’re not or in the end, it takes over you, instead. Even though there were some concepts I don’t fully understand, I hope you can share more about this poem in an assembly. I want to know more about it.

My favourite part was when you described the scarf as a scarlet snake. It visualized the scenario the old lady was in then, just as helpless as the scarf.

All in all, it was an amazing poem and you definitely deserved the place of champion. I am truly happy for you.

Reply
Cyrus Ng
1/13/2020 08:23:50 pm

Congratulations Dr Lee! Your poem was fantastic, not to mention the word number, you definitely did it perfectly!

This poem is a great one to understand an important life lesson, it tells you not to lie to yourself or else it will take over you and control you completely. The poem itself has uncountable metaphors and the choice of words and vocabulary is excellent. You should surely make this incredible poem widely known in Ying Wa and no doubt it will be respected and appreciated by Ying Wa Boys! The metaphors in the poem exceptional and extraordinary, but after watching the video, the metaphors are still clear and known.

With all my heart, I again sincerely congratulate you on winning the competition. Your poem being named champion is undoubtedly well deserved as it is unbelievable, marvelous, and also inspiring. I am genuinely happy for you.

Reply
Daniel Ho 6C (9)
1/13/2020 09:04:16 pm

I can only describe your work in one word, though it truly summarizes it entirely. MASTERPIECE! And, congratulations!
This long long poem perfectly depicts the 6-minute video entirely, it even included the tick-tick sound (the "clock") and the harp in the background. It even goes for the smaller details like it is truly silent the whole way and manages to put it in the poem and enhances it.
It also uses the metaphor "cocoon" to say that the woman is forever wrapped in an invisible cocoon (which fuels her with ambition, the desire to keep going, and throws away the thought to use the scissors and stop, and eventually, throws her off the cliff). The cocoon has another name: ADDICTION.
Your piece getting the first place is not by chance, but purely by skill and effort. If the judges don't recognize poetry before, they will after this wonderful piece. Congratulations!

Reply
Tong Calvin 6C(26)
1/13/2020 09:35:05 pm

Wow! This is what I thought after reading this piece, what can defeat it this 1300 words masterpiece? Amazingly written, with its complex, innovative metaphors and deep moral in it, it can surely impress everyone!

I personally loved the part where you wrote that the uncontrollable scarf turned into the outline of Hades, but at the part where you added the cat and I, I was totally impressed!

There always a place to improve, keep up the good work! I am terrifically sure that you can make better and advanced poems or essays in the future! Congratulations to you again!

Reply
Jayden Chow
1/13/2020 10:49:44 pm

Congratulations on getting such a prestigious prize! When I read the piece, I immediately thought that it must be a great challenge to write such a lengthy poem. I could guess what you went through, and how much, too! Through a lot of trial and error, you managed to compose such an excellent piece.

After I watched the video, I realised that it was trying to talk about one thing, ambition and the importance of not getting addicted to it. I believe that although this topic itself is profound, the video has plenty of morals for us to understand and use in our daily lives. If I’m not wronged, the metaphor ‘cocoon’ was used to describe how we get addicted to our achievements, and also the way we fall to our doom. It allowed me to realise that we should learn to stop at the right times. Otherwise, we would lose everything and will have to start from square one.

On the whole, the piece was very well done. I’ve never seen a 1300 word poem before, and this has broadened my horizons. Once again, congratulations!

Reply
Nick Wong
1/13/2020 11:01:58 pm

"What can defeat this masterpiece?" A 1300-word poem, filled to the brim with descriptive metaphors, describing the old lady's knitting, falling and her attempts to crawl back up the cliff.
The last part, the part I like most, is about the old woman's final attempt to achieve "metamorphosis" in a "cocoon" has a strong sense of a repetition, hinting that her fall down the abyss will reoccur, even though the second abyss may not be a literal abyss.
Congratulations to Dr Lee for getting first place!

Reply
Wong Ching Hong Marco 6E 26
1/14/2020 03:23:10 pm

Congratulations, Dr Lee! If my calculation is correct, you wrote a 1300-word poem! I think this poem is really fascinating and moralistic, and that's why you got the first place in the competition. It was amazingly written with beautiful metaphors that impressed me a lot. Your poem really matches 'The Last Knit' video. Although I don't really understand all of the poem, but I still enjoyed reading your MASTERPIECE!!! Lastly, I will say to you genuinely,'Congratulations to Dr Lee for getting the first place!' 🙇🏽‍♂️👍👍

Reply
Jasper Loi
1/14/2020 10:45:36 pm

Dr. Lee, congratulations! It was not luck that led you to victory! It was by your mastery at writing poems!

The poem itself was filled with metaphors, describing an old lady as a caterpillar trying to build herself a cocoon, the scarf as a scarlet snake, bringing out the dangers of addiction. These were all metaphors that only a master at all things English such as you, Dr. Lee would be able think of! Another thing that I particularly loved was how you took a turn at the end and took a religious point of view, comparing Jesus’ three falls with the old lady’s falls!

Overall, this piece was absolutely beautiful and definitely one of the longest, if not the longest poem I have ever read.

Dr. Lee, CONGRATULATIONS once again on getting first place!

Reply



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